Young Men’s Social Club 3 Hamilton Parish 4

Justin Bell scored a hat-trick to ensure relegated Hamilton Parish finished a disappointing season on a positive note. The East End side took down Young Men's Social Club in a seven-goal thriller at Police Field yesterday.

Despite defeat, Social Club retained their Premier Division status for another campaign as other results went their way. Parish will take solace from their performance but must prepare for life in the First Division next season.

Parish started brighter in the opening exchanges, and could have opened the scoring on three separate occasions. First, Zuhri Burgess was offered too much time to drive into space, and fed Kyah Trott in the left channel but the wide player couldn't convert from just inside the penalty area.

Social Club were consistently leaving gaps between their defence and midfield and Parish exploited that with their opening goal.

Quinn Outerbridge won the ball just inside the opposition half and picked out Trott, but his effort was deflected towards Social keeper Ryan Evans. But the keeper was too errant with his clearance, and Bell finished into an unguarded net.

The home side finally found their groove after conceding, as they often have this campaign. Captain Giniko Butterfield played a lovely driven pass into Josh Hardtman, who spread the play confidently to Pierre Smith. The winger cut inside and smashed a strong finish into the near post, giving Parish stopper Nigel Burgess no chance.

Both sides created chances to be at least two goals clear at half-time. Josh Hardtman and Jesse Seymour squandered glorious opportunities for the hosts, while Christopher Binnie and Bell couldn't find the target for Parish.

The second half had a much higher tempo than the first and Parish were more composed amid the chaos. Within five minutes of the restart, Burgess fed a lovely ball into the left channel for Bell to shrug off the attentions of Kimshun Smith and fire into the near post.

Smith failed to learn his lesson because less than a minute later. He was caught asleep on the left side, again allowing Bell to sneak into a dangerous area. Binnie held up substitute Kelvon Butterfield and played in Bell, who made no mistake and stabbed his finish off the far post and in past a helpless Evans to complete his hat-trick and put Parish into a 3-1 lead.

The Hardtman siblings starred as Social Club pulled one back midway through the second period, Josh spreading the play for his younger brother Mical, who returned the favour with a wonderful cross that Josh met with a powerful header past Burgess.

Within five minutes, Social Club were level from their best move of the afternoon. Jinairo Johnston started the sequence with a strong run into the opposing half, before playing forward for Josh Hardtman to come inside and slip a neat pass to Jomeko Mallory, whose finish deflected off Jordan Outerbridge into the net to make it 3-3.

Parish, who had no options off the bench for this season-ender, did not let that setback drop their spirits. Quinn Outerbridge had a strike from distance that pushed over the bar by Evans, but Outerbridge took matters into his own hands eight minutes from time.

Kyah Trott was taken down near the right edge of the penalty area by Johnston. The Social Club wall did not read the direction of the free kick, and the former North Village full back whipped it through the shield with pace, and Evans could not get a firm enough hand on the ball to keep it out.

SCORERS

Young Men's Social Club: P Smith 15; J Hardtman 67, J Outerbridge og 71

Hamilton Parish: Bell 12, 50, 51, Q Outerbridge 82

TEAMS

Young Men's Social Club (4-2-3-1): R Evans 6 — K Smith 5 (sub: T Tucker, 59min 5), J Richardson 6, M Rudo 5 (sub: Kelvon Butterfield, 59 6), M Hardtman 6 — A Matthews 6, J Johnston 5 — P Smith 6 (sub: B Swan Jr, 69 5), G Butterfield 5 (sub: J Mallory, 69 5), J Hardtman 7 — J Seymour 5 (sub: T Butterfield, 59 5) Substitutes not used: C Woolridge, K Gilbert, K Singh. Booked: G Butterfield, Johnston, K Butterfield.

Hamilton Parish (4-2-3-1): N Burgess 6 — J Outerbridge 6, Y Ibaraguen Ramirez 6, M Hill 6, K Knights 5 — Z Burgess 6, Q Outerbridge 6 — G Burgess 6, J Bell 9, K Trott 7 — C Binnie 6.

Referee: M Wyer.